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Not much hope for the Indians

Any idea why Anup Sridr isnt playing?

I thought he was a hot young prospect

Not much hope for the Indian squad

V.V. Subrahmanyam (hindu-09/06)

HYDERABAD: : The main draw of the Indian Oil senior Asian badminton championship for men and women commencing at the Gachibowli indoor stadium here on Wednesday wears a depleted look as most of the Asian giants have preferred to send the second string players.

The most notable absentee is reigning World and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat.

The fact that even in this weak field there are only two Indians who have been seeded — Arvind Bhat and Abhinn Shyam Gupta — in men's section and Aparna Popat in women's category — may well be an indication of where the Indian shuttlers stand in the international circuit.

Hyderabad's Chetan Anand, fresh from his Sri Lanka Satellite championship victory, and Abhinn Shyam Gupta continue to be the main hopes.

The focus will certainly be on the young Indian talent like Saina Nehawal, Krishna Deka Raja, Aparna Balan, Trupti Murgunde in girls' section and Sagar Chopra, Aditi Pawar, in boys' category.

Aparna cautious

Aparna Popat, the world No.34, sounded cautious saying her first target was to improve her previous best pre-quarterfinal appearance in the last ABC championship.

Vimal Kumar, the Indian coach feels that Thai Boonsak Ponsana, Athens Olympics silver medallist, could well be the dark horse given his rich repertoire of strokes and great retrieving ability. The championship with a prize money of $1,25,000 includes singles and doubles in men's and women's section besides mixed doubles.

China pulls out of Asian Badminton Championship
HYDERABAD, SEP 7 (PTI)
The Asian Badminton championship was robbed of its sheen after power house China pulled out of the event as its team could not board the flight on time.

"The 17-member Chinese team expressed its inability to participate in the event as it could not board the flight at Beijing on time," Asian Badminton Confederation General Secretary of B K Varma told reporters.

Varma was speaking on the sidelines of the event at the Gachibowli indoor stadium, where the event began in a depleted strength with majority of the nations sending second rung teams.

When asked what action would be taken against China, Varma cautiously replied "we will study the detailed letter the Chinese team will be sending us with full explanation and take a decision based on the reasons mentioned in the letter".

The tournament, which was scheduled to start yesterday, was postponed by a day on the request of China and Malaysia as they have to return from the satellite championship